Snow-guard



{No Model.)

H. M. BSSELEN.

SNOW GUARD. 4 No. 602,901. Patented Apr. 26, 1898.

6L6 ir V;1-4 M 1 UNITED STATES PATENT Enron.

HENRY M. ESSELEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SNOW-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 602,901, dated April 26, 1898. Application filed March 8, 1897. Serial No. 626,393. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY M. ESSELEN, of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvementin Snow- Guards, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to snow-guards for use on the roofs of buildings to prevent the dislodgment and falling of dangerously-large masses of snow and ice; and it has for its object the production of a cheap, very strong, and efficient snow-guard particularly adapted to be applied to finished roofs or it may be during the building thereof, the construction of the guard being such that torsional strains upon the snow-stop acts to retain the guard more tightly in place.

In the novel snow-guard hereinafter described the greater the pressure of the snow or ice thereupon the more will the guard resist such pressure, and inasmuch as it can be applied to finished slate or shingle roofs without any displacement of the roof-covering it is particularly valuable and useful.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a slate or shingle roof with snow guards in place thereon embodying two forms of my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged top or plan views of the snow-guards shown in Fig. 1, and Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged perspective views of two modified forms of guard to be described.

In Fig. 1 two forms of snow-guard are shown in position on a slate or shingle roof and designated as A and B, respectively, the main features of construction being common to both forms, which are illustrated separately on a larger scale in Figs. 2 and 3.

Referring first to Fig. 2, the snow-guard A is shown as composed of a single piece of stout wire, preferably round in cross-section and flattened at each end, the piece of wire being bent between its ends to form a loop-like snow-stop One flattened end is bent laterally to form a foot 0., and the other end is bent at a in the opposite direction with the flattened upright portions a and 0. connecting the laterally-extended parts a, and a? with the round wire of snow-stop substantially in This causes the snow-stop to be alinement.

offset laterally, and at the same time it is oblique to the direction of the line of pressure as exerted by the snow, such line being parallel to the longitudinal edges 1 2 of the slates or shingles s, Fig. 1.

To apply the guard to a roof, the foot 0. is introduced beneath one slate or shingle with the upright portion a between the longitudinal edges 1 2 of adjacent slates, and the guard is pushed up until the foot of can be inserted beneath the adjacent slate, and the guard is then pushed along to the desired position.

When pressure is exerted against the offset snow-stop a, the tendency is to turn or twist the stop about the part a and this torsion is resisted by the portion a*, which acts as a brace, and the greater the pressure the more firmly will the guard be held in place between the longitudinal edges of adjacent slates or shingles. The oppositelyextended feet a a are held in place by the overlying slates, and the guard is thus prevented from tipping.

The guard B is also provided with a bow or open loop I) to form the snow-stop, the ends I) 6 being flattened and oppositely extended laterally to form retaining-feet to extend beneath the longitudinal edges of adjacent slates or shingles. In this case, however, the bow is rounder and curves up and outwardly from the straight upright portions b b, the plane of the loop or snow-stop I) being oblique to the line of pressure; but the upright portions 19 b are not in alinement, being separated, so that when the guard is in place the loop or snow-stop will be compressed, its expansive force further assisting in retaining the guard in place on the roof.

The snow-stop is offset laterally on both sides of the longitudinal edges of adjacent slates.

In the forms shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the bow or loop forming the snow-stop is essentially open between the retaining-foot and the brace portion; but in Fig: 4: the loop is closed.

The piece of wire shown in Fig. 4 is fiattened and bent laterally at c, then up at a and aroundto form the loop or snow-stop c, the wire being bent and carried across the upright side of the loop at 0 then down at 0 and flattened at 0 the latter part extending laterally oppositely from the foot 0. By

this construction one side of the loop is carried across the other side, the snow-stop being offset laterally from the holding portion or foot while the foot 0 acts, as before, as a brace to resist torsion of the snow-stop.

In Fig. 5 a short lateral and flattened foot d is formed at one end of the piece of wire, which is bent up and around to form the snowstop cl, and the remaining portion of the wire is flattened to form a long shank d which is twisted and upturned at its extremity at 61 the upright portion d connecting the shank and snow-stop d. The foot cl extends beneath the edge of a slate with the upright d between the edges of adjacent slates, as is also the upturned extremity d of the shank, the latter acting as a brace against torsion of the snow-stop and having increased power by the lever-like action of the long shank d In any or all of the forms of snow-guard herein shown the pressure on the snow-stop tends to turn or twist it about its attaching or holding foot, and this torsion is resisted by the brace-like action of the other end of the wire of which the guard is made. The greater the pressure the more tightly will the guard be cramped or forced into position between the adjacent slates or shingles.

I prefer to use stout copper wire for many reasons, among others being the fact that if the snow-stop should be bent over it can be bent back into position without fracturing the wire.

The thinness of the flattened ends of the wire enables them to be readily slid in beneath the slates or shingles on finished roofs without raising or displacing them sufficiently to in juriously affect the integrity of the roofcovering.

In applying the guard shown separately in Fig. 2 the straighter side of the snow-stop is placed nearer the apex of the roof, and with this form of guard, as well as that shown in Fig. 3, the loop itself retains the snow or ice in place, while by reason of its obliquity it also operates to cramp the guard in place when under pressure.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A wire snow-guard having at one end a foot to extend and be held frictionally beneath the longitudinal edge of a slate or shingle, and bentto form a snow-stop laterally offset from said foot, the other end of the guard acting as a brace against torsion of the snow-stop, said ends cooperating to automatically lock the guard in place, substantially as described.

2. A snow-guard formed of a single piece of wire having one end flattened and turned laterally to extend and be held frictionally beneath the longitudinal edge of a slate or shingle, and bent to form a laterally-offset loop-like snow-stop, the other end of the guard entering between adjacent slates or shingles, the said ends acting to automatically lock the guard in place, substantially as described.

3. A wire snow-guard having at one end a foot to extend and be held beneath the longitudinal edge of a slate or shingle, and bent between its ends to form a snow-stop laterally offset from said foot, and oblique to the direction of pressure thereupon, the other end of the guard acting as a brace against torsion of the snow-stop, and automatically locking the guard in place, substantially as described.

4. A snow-guard made of a single piece of wire bent between its ends to form an upturned loop-likesnowstop, the ends of the wire being flattened and bent oppositely to extend beneath the longitudinal edges of adjacent slates or shingles, the snow stop being oblique to the direction of pressure, substantially as described.

5. A wire snow-guard bent between its ends to form an upturned loop-like snow-stop, the ends of the wire being flattened and bent oppositely to extend beneath the longitudinal edges of adjacent slates or shingles, the snowstop acting to normally press the ends in opposite directions, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY M. ESSELEN. Witnesses JOHN C. EDwARns, AUGUSTA E. DEAN. 

